Boy, 16, is 5th person charged in February slaying in Little Village

Jesus Villalobos, 16, (not pictured) has been charged with murder in a February slaying that Ray Geureca, 22, Luis Valdez, 21, Elena Rios, 17, and Gonzalo Guerrero, 20, are also charged in.

Jesus Villalobos, 16, (not pictured) has been charged with murder in a February slaying that Ray Geureca, 22, Luis Valdez, 21, Elena Rios, 17, and Gonzalo Guerrero, 20, are also charged in. (Cook County Jail photos.)

Rosemary Regina SobolTribune reporter

A 16-year-old boy has been charged as an adult with murder in the beating and shooting death of a Warrenville man in Little Village in February, making him the fifth person charged in the slaying.

Jesus Villalobos appeared in Cook County Bond Court on Saturday and was ordered held without bail. He was scheduled for a preliminary hearing today after a judge denied bail for him Saturday, according to Cook County state’s attorney’s office spokesman Andy Conklin.

An arrest warrant was issued for Villalobos on March 7 after he was identified as the attacker who fatally shot Raymond Jerz Feb. 11 in the 3000 block of West 23rd Street, according to a police report.

Villalobos, 16, is charged as an adult with murder, said Conklin. He is the fifth person, including three men and a 17-year-old girl who was 16 at the time of the slaying, to be charged in the case, according to police and court records.

Jerz, 24, was shot in the back several times after he and another man, 33, were beaten by a group of men and women who fled in a van.

Police found Jerz in the street on the 3000 block of West 23rd Street about 3:30 a.m., near an alley between Albany Avenue and Whipple Street.The man he was with was treated at the scene, police said.

Villalobos was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals in Burley Idaho and detained in Rupert, Idaho at the Cassia Juvenile Detention Center, according to the report.

Villalobos waived extradition and was subsequently released to arresting officers.

Four men and a 17-year-old girl have already been charged with murder in the case:

Ray Guereca, 22, of the 2600 block of South Sacramento Avenue, and Luis Valdez, 21, of the 3000 block of West 53rd Street, were both charged early in March, as was Elena Rios, now 17, of the 7700 block of South Wolcott Avenue, according to court records. They all are being held in Cook County Jail, Rios without bond and Valdez and Guereca in lieu of $2 million bail, according to jail records.

A fourth defendant, Gonzalo Guerrero, 20, of the 14400 block of South Lawndale Avenue in Midlothian, was arrested in September on the murder charge. In addition to the murder charge, for which he was being held in lieu of $1.5 million bail, Guerrero also has been charged with aggravated battery of a police officer.